Zarmanto's Profile

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Latest comments made by: Zarmanto

I'm still waiting for them to announce the "iPretendI'mAPhone" model... which simply connects via Bluetooth to any cell phone. There's no technical reason why it couldn't be done; there is already third-party software available for MacOS X which can be used to dial your phone through the Bluetooth connection, and allows you to use your Mac's built-in microphone and speakers to talk. (http://mirasoftware.com/BPE2/) Steve has already told us that the iPhone and iPod Touch both use a version of MacOS X... so where's that new iPod Touch that lets me make and receive calls through my Bluetooth enabled Sprint phone?
Oh yeah... they have an exclusivity contract with AT&T;for the iPhone, don't they? Which means that my mythical new iPod can't actually be brought to market until the contract ends -- unless of course, Apple can make a case that the exclusivity contract doesn't cover changes made to the *iPod* product line.... Hmmmmmmm.........

We do no market research. We don’t hire consultants. ... We just want to make great products. - Steve Jobs
Maybe I'm the classic victim of Steve's "reality distortion field" -- but I think I could actually believe him when he says things like this. Think about it this way: Why on earth would he bother spending money to have someone else try to figure out what the Mac community wants, when all he really has to do is recline on his couch with his MacBook Air, and read a few of the many articles written by other people... who are effectively already doing that research for him?
Likewise, I wouldn't be in the least surprised if he reads these comments too... (Hi Steve! How's it going?) and chuckles every time someone actually gets something right.
Let's hope that this can be one of those moments... I just did a few minutes of reading on [url="href=http://www.apple-history.com/]Apple-History.com[/url], and found myself rather amused to note that there have indeed been different examples of "mid-sized" and "mid-priced" models over the years -- though, not always as a single device. Here are just a few examples:
* The [url="http://www.apple-history.com/?page=gallery&model=g3&performa=off&sort=date&order=ASC"]beige G3[/url] came in two different cases, one of which was decidedly "mid-sized",
* The [url="http://www.apple-history.com/?page=gallery&model=g3blue&performa=off&sort=date&order=ASC"]Blue and White G3[/url] was a full sized tower with mostly only minor changes from its immediate predecessor, and started at $1599,
* The [url="http://www.apple-history.com/?page=gallery&model=g4_mirror&performa=off&sort=date&order=ASC"]Mirrored Drive Doors G4[/url] was available in a single-processor model for awhile for a mere $1299,
* The [url="http://www.apple-history.com/?page=gallery&model=g5_early_05&performa=off&sort=family&order=ASC"]PowerMac G5[/url] was available for awhile at $1599, (as mentioned by others in this discussion)
* And of course, who could possibly forget the overpriced [url="http://www.apple-history.com/?page=gallery&model=g4cube&performa=off&sort=family&order=ASC"]G4 Cube[/url].
I think what we're looking at here folks is mostly just a product life cycle kind of thing. Apple hasn't always specifically targeted the mid-sized/mid-priced units, but as their more expensive models have been replaced by the latest-and-greatest, they have often offered a model based on the older chassis at a reduced price. This makes perfect sense to me, as they've already recouped their development costs for that system, so the profit margin can be justifiably reduced. I would suggest that this cycle has historically appeased the demographics which we've been discussing -- but as has been noted by others, that demographic may well have grown significantly with the transition to Intel.
So given that we're currently seeing a great deal of customer angst over this issue, and given that the [url="http://www.apple-history.com/?page=gallery&model=mac_pro&performa=off&sort=family&order=ASC"]Mac Pro[/url] has been around in its current form for over a-year-and-a-half now, (which I'm pretty sure is a-really-long-time for any given Mac model) I'd have to speculate that we can expect a product refresh in their tower line-up in the very near future. With that, we will more-likely-then-not finally see a reduced price version of the Mac Pro in its current chassis... and maybe... just maybe we'll get to meet the love-child of the G4 Cube and the Mac Pro.
Here's hoping, eh?
(Of course... this is all academic for me and my wonderful 24" iMac -- but it's always fun to talk about!)

I can easily see some validity on both sides of this debate. I've had my Intel-based 24" iMac since late 2006 -- which I admittedly speced to nearly the max that I could* (see below) -- and it very easily meets all of my needs -- and even comfortably meets the majority of my *wants* as well: I reboot into Windows XP to play video games like BioShock and to watch Netflix movies, and I use an EyeTV Hybrid to DVR high-def television... and while I wouldn't mind being able to upgrade the video card for my video games, I have to say that this inability hasn't *prevented* me from being able to thoroughly enjoy my experience with this computer.
On the other hand... if there had been an option to buy a more moderately priced tower from Apple that was more comparable technologically with this iMac then to the tremendous overkill that is the Mac Pro, then I absolutely would have gone with that instead, (probably alongside the biggest Apple display I could afford) and of course I would have happily bought a new video card from the Apple Store by now, so that I could play BioShock at full native resolution, instead of having to step it back a notch to get good frame rates.
Of the six Macs (and one PC) that I've owned, the only one which I have not upgraded at some point... was the iMac currently sitting in front of me. In fact, three of those upgrades were video cards, and a couple of the upgrades were even purchased directly from Apple... such as the TV tuner card in my old Quadra 630. (Yeah... I'm one of those weirdos who's been watching TV on his computers since well before it was "in vogue"!)
So is there a market for the "mythical midrange Mac minitower" (as coined b Dan Frakes at Macworld)? Certainly. Bu the real question is: Is that market anywhere near as large as the vocal online complainers think it is...
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* My iMac: 2.33GHz Core2Duo / 2GB RAM / 500GB HD / 256MB nVidia GeForce 7600GT

I obsess a bit too... but I suppose I just haven't had the opportunity to reach THIS level of complexity with my own playlists. My music library was ripped from my collection of somewhere over 300 CDs using iTunes 1.0 way back when -- and believe it or not, the rapid fire ripping process of that many CDs actually crippled the DVD-ROM drive in my old beige G3 such that some of the rips turned out bad... but I wasn't aware of the problem until I was nearly finished! So ever since then, I've been trying to go through all of the music in my collection to weed out all the bad rips, and my playlists essentially reflect that effort. Needless to say, repeated OS reinstalls and computer replacements since then have hampered my ability to keep track of everything properly... but ONE DAY I'll get where you are. ;-)